


Past Meets Present

by ignore_the_fire_im_fine



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV), tua
Genre: Allison Can TAlk, Ben is alive, Caffeine Addiction, Drug Use, Drug Withdrawal, Five-centric, Gen, Humor, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-12-07 04:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18229886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignore_the_fire_im_fine/pseuds/ignore_the_fire_im_fine
Summary: When Five brings his siblings seventeen years into the past to escape the apocalypse, he knew things might get a little weird. Time travel is a fickle bitch, and as his thirteen-year-old body would show, he hasn't quite perfected the skill. Besides, he didn't have a lot of time to think about the logistics of taking seven people back in time when giant chunks of moon rock were hurtling at them. So when the seven of them find themselves seventeen years in the past, in their adult bodies, alongside their childhood counterparts, Five isn't all that surprised.The task they find themselves with? Undoing years of childhood trauma without revealing their identities to the baby Hargreeves.





	1. Here We Are Again

**Author's Note:**

> Heyy! This is actually my first work on AO3, so thank you so much for clicking! Please leave a review to tell me how I'm doing, but go easy, okay? I'm still figuring things out. (Not on the writing though, tear me to pieces if you feel like it, I really need the constructive criticism). Also, Allison can talk, because... Time travel? *coughConveniencecough*

Five

When the seven of them were dumped out of the space-time vortex, Five felt like he'd been put through a blender along with several sharp knives, three tons of gravel, and a banana for good measure. He had only gone backwards in time once before, and that had felt like the hangover to end all hangovers. But with seven people along for the ride, it felt like the universe had just chewed him into a pulp before spitting his lifeless body into... Oh, shit. The Icarus Theater all over again. Now that his vision was returning, he realized that the seven of them had dropped right onto the stage that had been covered in rubble moments before. Only now, a new orchestra seemed to be in the middle of a performance. Or had been. The music had come to a grinding halt, the entire theater turning their attention to the pile of bodies that had just appeared out of nowhere.

Five staggered to his feet, disturbed by the weakness in his scrawny, thirteen-year-old legs. The room spun like a merry-go-round, but there wasn't time to address that particular problem. He noticed that his siblings were still adults. Interesting. They had gone through several age warps during the transition, but it seemed adulthood had stuck... For everyone except him. Five couldn't help but be jealous. He had been looking forward to evening the playing field, height-wise. Mentally, he kicked himself. This wasn't what he should be focusing on right now. "Guys, get up," he said to his siblings. His words slurred slightly. Security guards were working their way up the aisle. They needed to get out of here.

To his surprise, (and annoyance) everyone else seemed to be in much better shape than him. They were slower to get their bearings, but once they did they were much less _wobbly_. Vanya was still unconscious, but Luther didn't seem to have a problem carrying her. Must be the protein. Or the mutant gorilla DNA. Five had thought they would have more trouble getting used to the transition, seeing as they were newbies to time travel, Klaus being the exception. Apparently, doing the work of dragging everyone here was much more taxing than simply coming along for the ride, inexperienced or not. Five lurched forward. Allison caught him, but just barely. "Are you alright?" she asked, sounding infuriatingly like a mother. He shook her off.

"We need to go," he said. By now the perplexed musicians had rushed off the stage, instruments in hand, and the security guards were upon them. The audience was being ushered out of the theater, and Five was pretty sure he could hear police sirens. 

A man who had the air of the person in charge approached them, taser drawn. The rest of the guards were a few yards away, fanned out in a V-formation. "Alright, let's just calm down. Put down the girl, and step away from the kid. Everyone, put your hands in the air."

Five felt a migraine coming on top of the one he already had. Double-decker, like they did it in England. So now he and Vanya were hostages, and the rest of them were terrorists. If he could just jump out of here this didn't have to be an issue, but there was no way in hell that was happening. Even worse, he could barely string together coherent sentences, and he didn't trust anyone else to talk their way out of this. Except... "Allison," he said. But she had already caught on.

She backed away from Five and put her hands in the air. "I heard a rumor you're going to tell your men to leave the theater," she said in a perfectly calm, reasonable tone. She made steady eye contact with the boss.

The guard blinked, then cleared his throat and turned to the other guards. "Men! Leave the building immediately!" They hesitated, confused. "That was an order! Do it now!" With that, the baffled security guards lowered their weapons and hurried down the aisles. Allison smiled and approached the leader, who was now looking very confused at his sudden solitude. 

"I heard I rumor you're going to go outside and tell everyone that there's no one here and that nothing happened." He immediately obeyed, helpless before his sister's commands. Really, Allison was more terrifying than people gave her credit for. 

"Good work," he said, swaying slightly. "Now... Have to get out of here..."

"Are you alright?" Diego asked, as much of a mom as Allison. 

"Fine," he said, glaring at everyone. Unfortunately, just as he said that he collapsed. Not very convincing, even he had to admit. Klaus squawked slightly as he hit the floor, and they all gathered around him. Mother hens, the lot of them. Disgusting. "You... idiots," he coughed. "We need to go! Now!"

"Hate to break it to you, Five, but I don't think we're the ones holding up that process at the moment," Klaus said. Five hated it when his idiot brothers were right. Now deeply aggravated, he did his best to stand up, knees shaking violently as he did so. 

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Diego said, rolling his eyes. He picked up Five and slung him over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. He let out a muffled shout of protest, but was too weak to do anything about it. Vertigo got worse when your upside down, funnily enough.

"...Kill you..." he muttered, head lolling slightly.

"Uhh, should we take him to a hospital?" Klaus asked, poking at Five's cheek. Never before had a thirteen-year-old looked so murderous.

"No hospitals, idiots... Run..." He moaned. The one guard's protests wouldn't hold off the police for long.

"He's right, Klaus," Ben said from the corner. "He's probably just spent from the whole time traveling thing." At the sound of Ben's voice, everyone jumped but Klaus. At the sight of everyone's eyes on him, Ben flushed, not used to the attention. Five supposed that for a long time, only Klaus could hear him. "We can talk about my sudden resurrection later," he said. "We need to go." It was nice to have another pragmatist around.

"And how  _do_ we get out of here?" asked Klaus. "Seeing as we're in the possession of one conscious individual and one mostly unconscious one that both bear a striking resemblance to freshly murdered _corpses_ , I wouldn't suggest trying to stroll right on by the police barricade that has undoubtedly been set up outside."

"There's a back door," Allison said. "Right over there. I... Used to come here with Vanya to watch the performances."

Everyone looked uneasily at Vanya, who looked so peaceful in her sleep. Vanya, the harbinger of the apocalypse, the seventh (and not so ordinary!) member of the academy, and their sister. All six of them had done her wrong. They had a lot to talk about when she woke up. But for now, they had to run. They hurried down the stage's steps, Allison leading the way to the back exit. Five cursed as his head bounced up and down, slamming into Diego's back. To everyone's immense relief, no one waited outside the exit. 

"Where to now?" Luther asked, clearly anxious to be the leader despite his cluelessness. Five didn't have time for his brother's superiority complex.

" _Away,_ " Five said. "Can't let the police see us..." They moved a few blocks before coming to Markle Public Park, only a few minutes away from the Academy. At that point, no one really knew what to do. On top of that, they were accumulating a lot of stares from civilians. Five glared daggers at every concerned mother who looked his way.

"Hold on a minute," said Klaus. "We need to readjust. We look a bit strange."

"Ya think?" Five groaned, basking in his own indignity from his place over Diego's shoulder. "Not much we can do about that."

"No, there's definitely room for improvement. First of all, Luther, give Vanya to Allison. It looks a lot less rape-y."

"Excuse me!?" Luther sputtered, going from zero to tomato-faced in about two seconds. 

"He's right," Allison said. "Here, put her on the bench, I'll sit with her." Awkwardly, Luther handed over his unconscious sister to the awake one. The two women looked almost natural, one resting her head on the other's shoulder, perhaps in the middle of an afternoon nap. The white suit was a bit strange, but oh well.

"Good," Klaus said. "Now, Diego. I want less man-in-all-black-leather kidnapping roofied child, and more fun dad at the park, okay? Let's switch from fireman carry to piggyback." Diego rolled his eyes at Klaus's phrasing but obliging shifting Five onto his back. He helped back a yelp of pain at the transition. "Good! Five, look happier." Five glowered with such an intensity that flowers might've wilted. "Or... Not. I guess the baby's having a temper tantrum today. It works. Now we look slightly less conspicuous." He made a mental note to kill Klaus when he had the time and strength.

"We look exactly the same," Luther said, still a little huffy.

"And  _that's_ the kind of restrictive thinking that makes you a no-fun stick-in-the-mud," said Klaus.

"Okay, break it up," Ben said. Once again, everyone flinched at his words. He looked slightly embarrassed, but cleared his throat and continued. "Where do we go now? We've been dumped seventeen years in the past, in our adult bodies. There's a good chance the police are after us, and Five _might_ be dying."

"Not... dying," gasped Five. "And you're one to complain... About seventeen years in the past, in our adult bodies... Mister dead for seven years..." To think he had managed to literally  _raise the dead,_ and all he got in return was complaints!

"Yeah, yeah, eternally grateful, we'll get to that later," said Ben. "So where do we go now?"

"The Academy?" Luther said, his voice almost hopeful.

"Because Father Dearest will be _so happy_ to invite Gorilla Man, Ms. Destructo, my fabulous self, and the rest of this misfit toy ensemble into his humble home," scoffed Klaus. "He'll have us dissected, arrested, or at the very least emotionally disturbed before we've even finished saying hello."

"He wouldn't do that," Luther said.

" _Again,_ you mean?" said Klaus.

"No, Luther, you're right," Diego said. "He'll skip the formalities and have us shipped straight to the moon before anyone can see what failures his precious Umbrella Academy become in the future."

"Stop it, all of you!" Allison shouted. "Fighting won't get anything done. Vanya's going to wake up soon, and when she does, we need to have some semblance of a plan. And that starts with figuring out where we're going to stay until we know what the hell we're going to do. Alright?"

They all stood in silence for a moment, until Klaus spoke up. 

"Well," he said uncertainly. "I know a motel."

 


	2. Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hargreeves siblings retreat to a motel holding some bad memories. Unfortunately, some familiar faces follow them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! There's the second chapter, I hope you enjoy. This took a bit longer than it would've as I made some noobish mistakes involving a lot of deleted work... Buuuut I think the final product is better because of it. Anyways, have fun.

  
Diego

When Klaus brought the seven of them to the very same motel where he had watched Eudora bleed to death, Diego very seriously considered throttling his brother. Or breaking down in tears? He figured if he did both at the same time the manliness of violence would cancel out of the shame of crying. “Why the hell… Would you bring us to  _ this  _ motel?” He asked, turning murderous eyes on his brother.

Klaus shrugged. “Because it’s the one I know? That’s about as far as the reasoning went.”

“Surprise, surprise,” Five muttered from Diego’s back. He had almost forgotten he was there. The kid (fifty-eight-year-old man) weighed about two pounds.

“You only know one motel?” Diego asked incredulously. “Really? I’d think motels would be places you frequent often enough to know about more than one.”

Klaus glared. “I feel like you’re making a lot of assumptions about my lifestyle, and I don’t appreciate it. Also, bold of you to assume I can afford motels any day of the week.”

Diego grit his teeth and sighed. At this point, they had no choice. Oh, well. Why not relive some traumatic memories today? It’s a good a day as any. “Fine,” he said. “Fine.”

“Jesus, Diego, you live in a boiler room,” Allison said, rolling her eyes. “I didn’t peg you as a snob. It’s just a motel, it’s as nice as anywhere else.”

“No, we all know who the snob of the family is,” he snapped. Of course. No one here knew about that night. They had all been too busy doing… Something to notice that Klaus was missing. Amazingly, it had been a complete stranger to find him. Well, a stranger to the family, at least.  _ He  _ definitely knew who she was… Intelligent, beautiful, resourceful… The kind of person to risk her life for a guy she’d never met, dressed in nothing but a bath towel, no less. The universe was shitty to some of the best people.

“Are you done brooding?” Five groaned. “This headache isn’t doing anything but getting worse, and getting out of the direct sunlight might help.”

“Yes, your highness,” Diego grumbled. “So, anyone have any money on them?” he asked. “This place won’t cost much, but even a dump like this won’t be free.”

Everything shrugged, then looked at Allison.

“Sorry,” she had dryly. “I didn’t think to pack my purse when we were on our way to save the world.”

After a lot of complaining and digging through pockets, they managed to come up with about… Fifteen dollars. “Well, that won’t cut it,” Diego said. “Allison…?”

“Fine,” she sighed, flipping her hair. “Time travel hasn’t been great for the whole ‘never using my power again’ thing.”

“You don’t have to,” Luther said, all star struck. “Maybe we could do some odd jobs, pull some money together.”

“What world do you live in?” Five scoffed, not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice. “While you’re at it, go sing Kumbaya with the people of the world and buy some penny candy at the sweet shop. Jesus Christ, get realistic, please.”

“Your Old Man is showing,” Klaus said. 

“ _ Your  _ useless junky idiot is showing,” he replied.

“How  _ are  _ those hormones feeling?”

“Enough,” Luther moaned.

“Alright, I’m going in,” Allison said with a roll of her eyes. As Diego watched her confidently stroll into the motel office, he wondered if she couldn’t convince them to give them a free room all on her own. His sister projected confidence. It was a little intimidating. Sometimes he wondered if that confidence stemmed from her ability, or if it was all her own. That was something he thought about a lot, what they would be like if they were  _ ordinary,  _ untouched by Reginald Hargreeves’ madness. As he thought about this Allison returned, twirling a single key on her manicured finger.

"One room?" He asked, unable to process the undiluted horror that would be rooming with all six of his siblings. "You couldn't have rumored your way into a few more? Preferably, seven individual ones?"

“Suites, perhaps,” Klaus said. Ben smacked him on the side of the head.

Allison rolled her eyes. "It's risky enough to put one room that hasn't been paid for on file. The more there are, the more likely it is someone will notice. Besides, we won't be staying here long. I guess we'll just have to pretend we like each other for the time being."

"Easier said than done," mumbled Five. Diego marveled at the barely conscious preteen-old-man's ability to crack wise when he could barely walk. 

They were staying in room 102, ground level. Luther unlocked the door, and they all squeezed inside. As soon as the door shut, Diego began remembering that night. He couldn't help it, everything was the same. The dirty carpet, the tacky bedspreads, the dim, yellowish lighting. It even smelled the same, like stale cigarettes and mildew. His breaths came shorter and sharper as he remembered how Eudora had looked laying there on the floor in a pool of her own blood, her body still warm... He shook his head. Everything was different now. To begin with, Eudora was alive. On a less positive note, she was about twelve years old, and had no idea who he was. But, alive… No, there was no use thinking about this. What had been the past was now the future, and there was time to right wrongs. He’d figure it all out later, find a plan of action. But first, they had to survive the next few days.

Diego dropped Five onto one of the two beds. His brother cursed at him as he bounced awkwardly. The mattress’ springs screeched under his weight. He was no doctor, but Five definitely didn't look good. He was breathing heavily, he was pale. Not that he was about to tell them about it, or ask for any help. Luther set Vanya onto the other bed, much more gently than Diego had done with Five. She was in a much better condition. Her cheeks were rosy and she was breathing normally, no fever or anything. The problems would come when she woke up. Allison went to Five's side and felt his forehead. "You have a fever," she said. "Anyone have any aspirin?" Five slapped her hand away.

Everyone shook their heads. With obvious effort, Five raised himself onto one elbow. "Don't worry about me," he said. "We need to make a plan."

"I still think we should go back to the Academy," Luther said, stubborn as always. "We can get help there. Maybe dad will know something about time travel."

"He doesn't know anything I don't," Five said. Their resident expert. It was slightly depressing.

"No Academy," said Diego. "At least not yet. After all, isn't our primary goal to stop the apocalypse? Well, news flash, dad played a huge part in that. We need to keep Vanya away from him at all costs."

"Dad isn't responsible for her going insane and blowing up the moon," Luther said.

Klaus laughed. It was unnaturally high, without humor. "While we might not be able to point to severe childhood neglect and psychological abuse as the entire cause, I don't think we should entirely overlook it." Klaus sat down in the puke green armchair in the corner of the room. His hands were shaking, his eyes darting around the room. Diego frowned. He had forgotten about Klaus, too distracted by everything else. Being here probably had just as bad of an effect on his brother as it did him, maybe worse. That plus withdrawal...

"You okay, Klaus?" Ben asked, beating Diego to the punch. 

"Just wonderful," he said, still staring at a greasy spot on the wall. Or maybe it was something else to him, a visitor from another world. It was impossible to tell with Klaus.

"Hold on," Five said suddenly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He just managed to stand up and started staggering towards the TV. 

"Five, sit down," Allison said. "You're still recovering."

"That can wait," he said. He grabbed the TV remote and turned on the power. He clicked from a cooking channel to XYZ news. There, a serious young woman in a bright green blazer reported from in front of Icarus Theater.

"Just twenty minutes ago, a performance here at the Icarus Theater was interrupted by what witnesses describe as a blinding flash of blue light. Countless audience members have confirmed that seven individuals appeared on the stage, seemingly out of nowhere. The building was quickly evacuated, and the authorities rushed to the scene. Security personal described what appeared to be a hostage situation, concerning an unconscious young woman and a seemingly injured teenage boy. However, all seven escaped the theater. Experts are deliberating over might have caused the blue light. Terry, back to you."

"Thanks, Sheila. Despite initial confusion at the scene, police are utilizing civilian reports of seven people- including two unconscious individuals- at Markle Public Park, just a few blocks away from the Icarus Theater. Authorities are being assisted by Reginald Hargreeves' Umbrella Academy, who specializes in cases out of the ordinary. Sheila-"

"Shit," said Five, muting the TV. This pretty much summed up Diego's thoughts on the matter. 

"It'll be a matter of minutes before they find us," he said. "We’ve got a half hour at best. We need to leave, now."

"It's worse than that, dumbass," Five said, apparently energized by the impending crisis. "Didn't you hear what he said? The  _ Umbrella Academy  _ is assisting the police. That means our past selves are  _ here,  _ and they're coming to find us."

Everyone stood in silence for a moment, letting that sink in.

“Was that… Supposed to happen?” Luther asked.

“Nothing was  _ supposed  _ to happen,” Five said. “Coming here was a last resort, a shot in the dark. I didn’t know  _ how  _ it was going to work. Before I had only traveled backward once, and that time I didn’t have to drag you assholes with me. So I don’t  _ know,  _ Luther. I don’t know why you’re still adults, I don’t know why I’m still a  _ fucking  _ thirteen years old, and I don’t how Ben was magically brought back to life! It’s all a mystery! A huge  _ fucking  _ mystery!” 

They stood in silence for a moment, shocked by Five’s outburst. “Not to return to the topic of questions that are hard to answer, but… Will meeting our past selves rip a hole in the universe?” Ben asked.

Five thought about this for a moment, leaning on the TV stand for support. “Time travel is…. Complicated.”

Klaus burst into applause. “My god! Astounding! You’ve truly found the answer! With a mind like this on our side, what could possibly go wrong!?”

Five chucked the remote at him. Klaus squawked as it hit him square in the forehead. “Could you stop being a dumbass… For one second? Just… I don’t think a hole will be ripped in the universe or anything. As far as I can tell, that kind of thing doesn’t happen. There aren’t rules to this.”

“What about… I don’t know, paradoxes? The butterfly effect?” Luther asked, furrowing his brow. 

“Don’t burst too many brain cells, Einstein,” Five said. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re already deep in paradox territory. And the butterfly effect only applies if you don’t want to change the future. Which, correct me if I’m wrong, is the point of going back in the first place.”

“Alright, fine,” Luther said, his feelings clearly hurt. Diego couldn’t help but smile. “What do we do, then?”

“We need to get out of here,” Diego said. “Even if meeting our past selves won’t cause any… I don’t know,  _ time  _ problems, I’d rather not run into Dad.”

“I’d second that,” Klaus said. 

“If you want to avoid that, we should move quickly,” Ben said. He picked up the remote from the floor by Klaus’s feet and unmuted the TV. Now Sheila stood in front of the very motel they were staying in.

“I’m reporting live from the scene,” she said, her face a stoic mask of professionalism. “Here I have Sir Reginald Hargreeves, founder of the Umbrella Academy. The six teenage superheroes are here now, ready for action. Mr. Hargreeves, what’s the game plan?”

Everyone’s jaw dropped when the camera panned over to Reginald Hargreeves himself, in all his infamous glory. Diego wondered how he managed to look exactly the same, seventeen years in the past. His clothes were identical, his face hadn’t changed. Those eyes were just as cold and unforgiving… He shuddered. 

“First of all,” he said, lip curling slightly, “I must ask you to refrain from comparing the Academy’s tactics to the childish formations used by ‘professional’ athletes. We’re doing something a little different than transferring a spherical object across a playing field.”

“Uh… My apologies, Sir.”

“Anyway. Number Three will locate the terrorists, and numbers One, Two, Five and Six will employ their combative abilities to apprehend them.”

“What will the rest of the children do?”

“Not much, I imagine. That’s what they usually do.”

“I… See. Um, do you think this will be an easy mission, Sir? Will they be able to pull it off?”

He snorted. “I should certainly hope so. If not, despair at my own incompetence as a teacher will surely lead me to throw myself off a bridge.”

“...Right. Back to you, Terry.”

As the news anchor continued to battle, Diego couldn’t help but return to his rather bleak childhood. The endless missions, the constant pressure to succeed… He had thought that his father’s approval was the only way to measure his worth. He pulled himself back to earth. “Let’s go. Right now.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Five asked. “The front of the building is surrounded. We’ll make it about two feet in any direction.”

“We can fight,” Luther said.

“And show the entire world exactly who we are!?” Five snapped. “We’re trapped!”

“Well… Is there any chance you could jump, Five?” Allison asked gently.

“Seeing as I can barely  _ walk _ , I think it’s unlikely I could jump five feet, much less take the lot of you out of the reporter’s line of sight.”

“So… What are our options?” she asked. 

Suddenly, there was a weak coughing. Everyone froze, and turned to look at Vanya. Slowly, she opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around, terrified by the sudden change of scenery. “G-guys?” she said, her voice tiny. “What happened?”

“Vanya!” Allison cried, throwing her arms around her sister. “You’re awake!”

“A-Allison,” she said, awkwardly accepting the embrace. “Where are we? What’s going on? I- You can talk?”

“Um… A lot of things happened since we last spoke. We don’t really have time to catch you up right this second,” Allison said.

“Hold on,” Five said, beginning to pace before sitting down on the bed due to exhaustion. “Vanya, how are you feeling?”

“Okay? Tired? I’m… Remembering things, and-” she started to tear up. “Allison, I’m so sorry. Everyone, I can’t believe I-”

“Yeah, yeah, that isn’t important right now. Do you think you could use your powers?”

“I…” Vanya said, staring at the wide eyes of her siblings. “Yes?”

“Five, what the hell are you thinking?” Luther asked. “I thought we can’t use our powers because we’ll be recognized. Besides, do you really trust Vanya to control herself?” She flinched at the words, hanging her head in shame.

“No, it makes sense,” Ben said, his eyes lighting up. “Of all of us, Vanya has the least recognizable powers. They already think we’re terrorists, so they’d probably chalk it up to some sort of bomb.”

“What about the people in the building?” Diego asked. He wasn’t about to let them kill a dozen innocent bystanders, even if it meant ruining their chance of escape. “On second thought, what about  _ us _ ? And little us?”

Five gestured at the TV. “The younger versions of ourselves should be fine. They might get a little bruised, but those uniforms were pretty good shock absorbers. As for the civilians? Use your eyes. The police are evacuating the building. That’s why they haven’t found us yet. They’re getting everyone to safety. ” He rolled his eyes. “And if it makes you feel better… Klaus, give me your lighter.”

“Rude of you to assume I have a lighter,” he mumbled as he fished it out of his fur coat’s pocket. 

Five took the lighter and held it up to the bed Vanya wasn’t resting on. Soon the sheets were smoldering, building up to a full on blaze. The fire alarm went off. “There,” he said, shouting a little to be heard over the blaring noise. “That should take care of it. At this point, I doubt anyone’s still inside”

“What the hell, Five!?” Allison yelled. “Now we’re in a burning building!” She pointed angrily at the flaming bed.

“Correction,” he said. “Now we’re  _ leaving  _ a burning building. Finally, a sense of urgency has been created. What does it  _ take  _ to get you assholes moving? Vanya. I want you to destroy the motel.”

“And where are we, when the motel is being destroyed?” Diego asked dryly.

“We’ll be exiting through the hole Luther is going to punch in the wall,” Five replied, not missing a beat. “In and out, no one will ever know.”

“This plan seems… Risky, at best. We might blow ourselves to pieces. In fact, we have two opportunities to blow ourselves to pieces,” Allison said.

“Too bad. It’s my plan, it’s the plan I came up with, and we’re doing it. I’m the only person in this family qualified to make plans, so it’s not like you have any other choice.”

“Excuse me?” Diego said. He was great at making plans! He was the brain, the brawn and the beauty all in one amazing package. 

“But I’m the leader,” Luther said.

“Are you suggesting I’m stupid?” Allison scoffed.

“I think I bring the out of the box thinking our team really needs,” Klaus mused.

“Yeah, I don’t think this is a fair assessment,” Ben said.

“All of you shut up,” Five said. “We’re wasting too much time! This hotel room is  _ literally  _ on fire, and we’re bickering about  _ this _ ?”

“Yeah, I’m definitely getting some smoke in the lungs,” Klaus wheezed.

“What’s new?” Ben muttered.

“ _ Rude.” _

“ _ Vanya, _ ” Five shouted. “ _ Get to destroying. _ And Luther, be ready to punch a hole. We’ll need to do this quickly. Everyone ready?” They all nodded hesitantly. “Great. We’ll have to be fast. There’s no room for mistakes.”

Outside they could hear helicopters and the shouts of reporters. On the TV they could see their younger selves, ready to bust down the door.

“ _ Umbrella Academy, open up _ !” shouted little Luther.

“And Vanya, make sure you don’t kill our younger selves, okay?”

“I-” Vanya started, clearing seeing issue with this command.

“Great. Three… Two…. One…  _ NOW!”   _ Five shouted. 

Everything happened very quickly. The front door of their crappy motel room flew open, and Diego caught a brief glimpse of his own young face, standing next to little Luther. Just as young Luther charged towards them and his past self sent a pair of his knives flying through the air, old Luther NFL’d his way through the flimsy motel walls, and Vanya… Well, Vanya exploded. Diego grabbed Five (who was currently trying and failing to remember how to run) and slung him over his shoulder. As he sprinted, massive waves of force pushed him forward. He almost lost his footing, but he just managed to stay upright. Behind him he could see the youthful members of the Umbrella Academy get blown backward. They’d be alright… Hopefully. Allison carried Vanya, doing an outstanding job of running in heels. Klaus was doing a slightly less outstanding job, with more flailing and tripping. Diego heard screaming behind as the onlookers witnessed the massive explosion. The next time he looked back the motel was gone, replaced by a pile of rubble. He couldn't help but smile. That was one way to get rid of bad memories.

 

To their incredible fortune, Vanya’s explosion created huge amounts of dust. It washed over everything, the spectators, the cameras. The perfect cover. Diego risked one more glance backwards, before everything was enveloped in smoke. He noticed that Five was staring at something. He followed his gaze, and saw, to his horror, thirteen-year-old Number Five, making eye contact with the boy who could’ve been his twin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, you made it! Thanks so much for completing chapter two!! I'll try to get out the third one in a speedy fashion. Please comment down below, I had so much fun reading the comments on the last one! Predictions, suggestions, critiques, questions? I want them all!


	3. Five+Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After seeing something strange during what should have been an ordinary mission, Five Hargreeves finds a note on his desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Here's chapter three! Enjoy.

Five (13)

The explosion had come out of nowhere. The mission had been going as planned until then. Allison had gotten the room number, the police had cleared out everyone in the vicinity, and they were in position to strike. It should’ve been easy. They could hear the targets bickering inside the room, clearly in a state of disorganization. But as soon as Luther had knocked in the door, something had happened. Five had been standing behind Diego, standing on his tiptoes to see inside. Dad never let him lead the advances, but it was a piece of cake to just jump in front of Luther and Diego. They hated that, always whining about him taking the glory for himself. That’s part of why he did it. He was a much better fighter than them, anyways.

But before he had a chance to jump forward, Diego had gone flying backward, and slammed directly into him. Waves of force were coming from inside the tiny motel room. The walls crumpled and collapsed in on themselves, the flimsy plaster quickling reduced to deadly debris. They all landed hard on the concrete, bruised and stunned. He had sat up quickly. Clearly they had set off some kind of explosive. Had it been a suicide bombing? Had all seven of them been blown to pieces? It seemed unlikely. Dust was rapidly covering the scene. But before his vision was completely obscured, he noticed several figures sprinting through the hazy clouds. So they made it out. He was about to shout something to his siblings, to let them know that their targets were escaping, before he saw it. Well, before he saw  _ himself _ . Staring right at him through the dust. 

Five’s jaw dropped. Was he hallucinating? Had the explosion given him brain damage? What the hell? He sprang to his feet, but they were already gone. 

“Are you okay, Five?” Allison asked. 

“Yeah…” He said, still staring into the dust cloud. “Yeah, it’s nothing.”

Suddenly, paramedics were on them, asking if they were okay. Five could hear ambulance sirens through the crowd’s din. But before they could get any work done, Sir Reginald Hargreeves showed up. The six of them all collectively winced.

“Go away, all of you,” he said to the paramedics, scowling at them. “They’re fine.”

“But Sir,” one of them said. “They could be seriously injured. They should go to the hospital for-”

“No,” their Dad as, as uncompromising as ever. “If they need medical assistance they shall receive it at the Academy.”

“I really don’t think that’s wise,” the paramedic continued, determined. “A hospital really is the only option-”

“ _ Number Three _ ,” the old man snapped. “You know what to do.”   
“Yes, sir,” she said, turning to the small group of medical workers. “I heard a rumor you all think we’re perfectly healthy, and don’t need any help.” 

The paramedics all paused, before shrugging and standing up, packing up their equipment. “You all look perfectly healthy,” said the woman who had pushing for a hospital visit moments before. “Good work, kids,” she said before jogging off to rejoin the others.

“To the limousine, all of you,” their Dad said, already walking at a brisk pace. The lot of them picked themselves up from the ground, nursing small wounds. Luther and Diego looked they had a few broken bones. Ben had glass shards sticking out of his palms, and Allison was limping badly. Five felt okay, though he was pretty sure his arm was broken. As they passed the crowd of reporters they all hid their injuries and smiled, as their Dad had taught them to do. Ben stuffed his hands in his pockets, Allison grit her teeth and walked normally, and the rest of them cleared any evidence of pain from their faces. Never let the public see you get hurt, that was the rule. By now Five had decided he was definitely concussed. That explained the sighting from earlier. Nothing more than a hallucination.

When they got to the limo they all climbed in, in order of their numbers. Dad sat in the front, directly behind the driver. Luther and Diego took the row behind him, Allison and Klaus (who had been waiting in the car; his powers weren’t cut out for this kind of work) behind them, then himself and Ben in the back. “How was it?” Klaus asked.

“There will be a debriefing, Number Four,” Reginald replied. “There’s no need for you to ask any questions.”

“Sorry,” he muttered. 

“Driver,” their Dad said. “To the Academy. Now. Your work today was definitely subpar. You should have been prepared for explosives. You got sloppy. At least the targets managed to blow themselves up with their own weapon. Otherwise it would be a total loss.  _ Number One.  _ What is the protocol for criminals potentially in the possession of detonative devices?” 

Luther sat up straight. Then sagged slightly when he realized he didn’t know the answer. Five couldn’t help but smirk. It was nice to see the suck up get what was coming to him. “I… Approach with caution, Sir?”

Reginald rolled his eyes. “Because in other situations, it is advised to approach haphazardly. We’ll discuss this later. Now-”

“Sir,” Five said, interrupting him. Everyone stared at him. No one ever interrupted the Monocle. “I don’t think we did anything wrong in that situation. There was no reason to suspect that they’d use detonators. They were trapped with nowhere to go, and earlier, the blue light witnesses described wasn’t destructive. The Icarus Theater is completely intact.”

“Not everyone wants to get out of a situation alive, Number Five. I do believe we’ve had lectures concerning suicide bombers.”

“But they didn’t fit the profile of a suicide bomber. Suicide bombers don’t take hostages.”

They all sat in silence for a moment. The others were undoubtedly waiting for their Dad to skin him alive. Finally, Reginald spoke up. “Interesting point, Number Five. But next time, I’ll ask you to discuss strategy with a little less insolence. Understood?”

“Yes, Sir,” he said, unable to hold back his smirk. Luther glared at him from the front of the limo. It looked like blind loyalty couldn’t guarantee daddy’s affection  _ every  _ time. Not that it was affection he was looking for. Dad took Five more seriously than most of the others. They all knew it. Even if he wasn’t the “leader”, he was on a higher plane than the others. Maybe, at this rate, he’d finally let him try time travel… But that was a conversation for another day. He shouldn’t push his luck.

When they arrived at the Academy and crossed its threshold, Mom was waiting for them as usual. She smiled sweetly at all of them and carefully distributed her affection, patting backs and giving out hugs. Diego smiled back, looking dopey as ever. Five couldn’t help but stiffen when she touched him lightly on the shoulder. Their mom was a  _ robot,  _ nothing more, nothing less. It was almost insulting to think she was a adequate replacement for actual affection. She didn’t even notice, she just kept moving down the line.

“Grace,” Reginald said, as formal as ever. “There are some injuries that need patching up. Take care of it.” At this, Klaus started making his way upstairs,muttering to himself as he went. Probably to tell Vanya about the mission. He could hear faint violin music coming from her room.

“Yes, Sir Hargreeves,” she said, still smiling warmly. That was one of the things that made it so obvious their “mother” wasn’t human. A human couldn’t work for Reginald Hargreeves and keep on grinning. “This way, children,” she said, leading them to the lab where all of their medical appointments took place. One by one they hopped up on the exam table. Mom quickly diagnosed their ailments, and applied the required treatment. Luther and Allison got casts. Ben winced as Mom pulled the glass out of his hands, one piece at a time. Diego did his best not to cry as she set back his dislocated shoulder. 

Five went last. Mom looked him over quickly. She disinfected all the little cuts, and put his wrist in a cast. “All done,” she said cheerfully, wiping off her bloody hands.

“Wait,” he said. “Don’t I love a concussion?”

“Don’t worry, dear,” she replied. “None of you showed signs of concussion. I made sure to check.”

“That can’t be right,” he said. “What about… I don’t know, vision problems?”

She frowned. “Are you having trouble seeing?”

“Stop being weird, Five,” Allison muttered.

“I…” he considered telling her about what he saw earlier, but if he was going crazy, he definitely didn’t want anyone to know. “It was nothing. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t mess anything up.”

“Asshole,” Diego said.

“Diego, language!” Mom chastised. 

“S-sorry m-mom,” he mumbled, cheeks red.

“Alright, children,” she said. “We’ll make an appointment in a few weeks to remove your stitches. Keep those cuts clean, please! And don’t get your casts wet.”

“Yes, Mom,” they all said, except for Five. He was too busy thinking. As everyone filed out of the room he jumped his way up the stairs. Walking was a waste of time. As he passed Klaus’s room he smelled smoke. Either his brother was lighting fires, or messing around with cigarettes. Neither option was out of the ordinary. Vanya was still practicing. Whatever the piece was, she was having trouble with it. She couldn’t go for more than a few notes without pausing and correcting. Normally he’d stop outside her door to listen, but right now he was too distracted.

When he got to his room he flopped onto his bed. It was messy, covered in textbooks. Last week he’d stolen a few books on quantum physics from the library. Theft was easy when you could teleport. He was getting closer to closer to time travel. He could practically taste it. They’d all be sorry for doubting him when he came back from one hundred years in the future with the cure to cancer. Or something. He smiled at the thought. 

Five stood up and walked over to his desk. Something weird had happened this morning, and he intended to figure it out. He was pretty sure he wasn’t crazy. So… Who had he seen? His clone? His long lost twin? For all he knew he could have twenty identical brothers. Their dad wouldn’t tell them anything about their families. He’d searched for the paperwork for hours, but found nothing. Yet another mystery he was anxious to solve.

Before he could sit down, he noticed a folded piece of paper on his desk. He frowned and picked it up. Probably from one of his siblings. He folded it, and sure enough, it was Ben’s hand writing. It read, ‘ _ Meet me at Griddy’s Donuts if you want to know who you saw this morning.’  _ He froze. What the hell? How did Ben know about that? And why was he passing vague notes, as if they were in a spy film? He pocketed and the note, and went into Ben’s room. His brother was lying on his bed, reading.

“What is this about?” he asked, holding up the piece of paper.

Ben looked at it. “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “You tell me.”

“Very funny,” Five said. “Why’d you leave this on my desk?”

Ben frowned. “I didn’t leave anything on your desk. What does it say?”

“Nothing,” Five said. “Nevermind. I was kidding.” He went back into his own room. He was pretty sure Ben wasn’t lying. He wasn’t a very good liar anyways. Five could feel himself starting to panic. What did this mean? Who was trying to talk to him? The criminals from this morning, or some prankster? Whoever it was, he knew he definitely shouldn’t go to Griddy’s Donuts. It would be a bad idea. A very, very bad idea. He could get murdered, or kidnapped. Or at the very least, harshly scolded by his dad. It was a very, very, very bad idea.

 

***

Five hurried down the dark streets toward Griddy’s Donuts, shivering in his school boy shorts. Curiosity had gotten the better of him. It always did. When the glowing sign of Griddy’s Donuts came into view, he found himself getting nervous. Maybe he should get out of here. If he got murdered at the donut shop, that would be really embarrassing… For a moment, he thought about going home. But in the end he couldn’t. 

When he arrived, there were only a few people inside. A elderly couple, a pimply college student, and a kid about his age, wearing… An Umbrella Academy uniform? Five stopped and stared. This was him, then. The kid from this morning, his long-lost twin. So he hadn’t imagined it. “W-who are you?” he asked, hating the uncertainty in his voice.

“Why don’t you sit down?” he said, his voice a more confident version of his own. Reluctantly Five took a seat beside him. 

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said. “Who are you? Why do you look like me?”

“Well, that’s a complicated question,” the stranger said, stirring a cup of black coffee. “But I’m going to give you the simplest answer I can. I’m you. From the future.”

Five thought about this a moment, in total shock. Then he found himself grinning. “You mean it works?” he asked, elated. “I figure it out?”

“You do,” Future Five said. 

“Well?” he asked, eyes wide. “What’s the future like? When do I go there? How long do I spend there?”

“The future is…” He hesitated, a shadow coming over his face. “Okay. Different. You’ll figure it out when you get there.”

Five laughed. “I can’t believe it works! Dad’ll feel like an idiot for telling me not to go! Hell, I bet I could try right now-”

“ _ No, _ ” his future self said, his voice suddenly harsh. “You… Have to wait. You aren’t ready yet.”

“When  _ will  _ I be ready?” he asked, annoyed.

“Soon. Just not yet.”

“Way to be vague,” he groaned. “Why’re you here, anyways? And who were those people this morning? What was that all about?”

“Um… I travelled back in time with some… Friends. You’ll meet them eventually.”

“Cool,” Five shrugged. 

“As for why I’m here… I need to ask you to do me some favors.”

“Favors? Why?”

“You see… There’s some things about the future it would be better to change. And to do that, I need your help. “

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, sorry it was a bit short. Because of the weekend, I should be able to update pretty soon. The next chapter will fill in the older Hargreeves' thought process on inviting little Five to Griddy's Donuts and maybe have some more Five/Five interaction. Why did Five lie to Five!? All will be revealed soon!


	4. A Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After narrowly escaping their past selves, the Hargreeves need to come up with a plan. But as soon as they have an idea what they're doing, an intruder shows up...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aah sorry this took so long! I rewrote this several times, I didn't know what direction to take it in, or which POV to use. Anyways, enjoy.

Vanya

 

When Five returned to the old storage unit the Hargreeves were using as a temporary base, she could tell something was wrong. Usually her brother was relaxed, the epitome of confidence. Now he seemed more withdrawn. His face was slightly pale, and he didn’t say anything.

“Well?” Luther asked. “How did it go?”

“Fine,” Five said. “We met, we talked. He won’t be telling dad about anything.”

“How can you be sure?” Allison asked.

“Because I know myself,” he said. “I made a deal I knew I couldn’t refuse.”

“ _Deal?”_ Diego asked.

“Let’s just say, we’ve got ourselves a new recruit,” Five said. Breathing heavily, he sat down on an old mattress.

“Wait, so… Little Five is on our side now?” Klaus asked. He giggled. “Should we draw an X on your forehead, so we know who’s who?”

“Come near me with a Sharpie and you’ll lose a hand,” Five snapped. “Could you all stop being idiots for one second? We need to talk about our plan.”

“We’re listening, Five,” Allison said.

“Well… Good. So. Our main objective is, clearly, to stop the apocalypse.” Vanya felt her face heat up as everyone looked at her awkwardly. Her memories of the event were still patchy, but she had gotten the gist of it. “Yeah. No one’s blaming you, Vanya, but… You definitely had a part in it.”

Luther coughed slightly, and Vanya flushed an even deeper red. Apparently, at least one of her siblings blamed her. “I know, Five,” she said quietly. “But, I… I’m on your guy’s side. You all know that, right?” Luther looked away. Diego spun a knife around his finger. Ben and Klaus at least made eye contact, and the latter smiled at her, though it was rather pained. But Allison was different.

“Of course you are,” she said, scowling at their siblings. “What happened was Dad’s fault, and no one else’s.” Luther opened his mouth to object. “ _No,_ Luther, it was. You can’t always defend him. I know you and him were on better terms than the rest of us, but he did unforgivable things. Even you know how that feels. It was him, Vanya, not you.” Vanya smiled at her sister. At least one person was on her side.

“If you guys are done with the touchy-feely crap, we do have work to do,” Five said. “Let’s not waste our time questioning Vanya’s loyalty, okay? It’s annoying, and it doesn’t get us anywhere. She gets the benefit of the doubt, alright? If she starts exploding shit,  _then_ we'll return to the subject. Now. We need to identify the triggers that led to Vanya going crazy-”

Allison glared at him.

“ _Temporarily_ crazy, and blowing up the moon. Then we eliminate those triggers.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Diego said.

“Not really, but if you want to keep telling yourself that, no one’s gonna judge. So. What are the triggers?”

Everyone sat in silence for a moment, before Klaus spoke up. “Perhaps… Dad’s child-abusing prick-ery?”

“More specific,” Five said. “Vanya, you’re the one with the details. What do you got?”

“Um…” she said. Vanya really didn’t feel like delving into her monumentally awful childhood, but here they were. “Well, there were the… The pills. He had me take them. Mom said they were anti-anxiety meds. They made me feel like I was just… Underneath clouds, all the time.”

“He was suppressing your emotions,” Five said, nodding his head.

“But wouldn’t those help _prevent_ Vanya from blowing stuff up?” Luther asked. “What if those pills were the only things stopping her from destroying everything years earlier?’ Vanya winced. What if that was true? What if those awful pills were the only reason she hadn’t accidentally murdered her family long ago? Five thought about this.

“It’s possible,” he conceded. “Not that I’m condoning his actions,” he added. “Teaching you how to control your powers would’ve been the more obvious solution. But it’s possible. Besides, we can’t really get young Vanya off the pills right now. She won’t understand if we try to tell her, and if we introduce ourselves with the information that her dad has been wrongfully drugging her, we might dig our own graves. So, any other options?”

Vanya silently apologized to her younger self, and the poison she would continue to take twice a day. She’d be able to help her soon. Soon.

“Well…” Allison said, looking slightly pale. “I might… There was something that happened. I’m not sure if it’s relevant to this, but…”

“Any information is relevant,” Five said. “Spit it out.”

“Dad had me rumor Vanya into thinking she was normal,” Allison said. “... After locking her in a facility for almost a year.” You could’ve heard a pin drop. Diego, Ben and Luther’s mouths dropped open, and even Five looked shocked.

Klaus’s reaction was.... Unique. He laughed. It was a barking, gagging noise, completely without humor. “Yeah, that sounds like him,” he said. “Dear Old Daddy certainly had a knack for putting young children in confined spaces.” The silence deepened as everyone recalled how Klaus would look when he came back from “special training”.

“Well… So far, we can’t change any of this,” Five said.

“Why not just take care of Harold Jenkins?” Luther asked. “He caused everything, after all.”

“Oh, so now murder for the greater good is acceptable?” muttered Five.

“No,” Vanya said. The Hargreeves looked at her, surprised by the firmness in her voice. “Leonard… _Harold_ didn’t make me do what I did. He just sped it up. No matter what, I… I would’ve found out eventually. Kill him and the exact same thing will happen, later down the line.” They all considered this.

“So what would _you_ suggest we do, Vanya?” Five asked. “Because we’re running out of options. Why did you… Do what you did? What would change that outcome?”

Vanya thought about this. “I… I was just so, _so_ angry. At Dad, at you guys… My whole life, I was mud off the bottom of your shoes. I didn’t matter, I wasn’t special. Number Seven was just a liability Dad couldn’t get rid of without a whole lot of bad publicity. So… When I found out I _was_ special, it was… Amazing. But also awful. Because I had been lied to… B-by everyone. I-I messed up so badly… I didn’t trust you, Allison. I hurt you. I was just terrified of being reduced to _nothing,_ all over again. And when Luther… When you put me back where I had been stuck so long ago, I… I decided you guys had given up on me. And that I had to show you I was worth something.”

After a long time, Diego spoke up. “So what I’m getting from this is… Everyone was a dick to you. But especially Luther. Five, can we kill Luther?” The Hargreeves sniggered.

Luther glared at Diego, looking hurt. “Vanya, I… I’m sorry for what I did,” he said, rather stiffly. “But I thought it was the right thing to do.”

“Okay,” Vanya said. She left it at that.

Five leaned back on the mattress, massaging his eyes. “This is going to be much more complicated than I thought. There’s no _one thing_ to stop this, it’s…. Too much.”

“Are you saying we can’t do _anything_?’ Ben asked. “That it’s hopeless?”

“No… I’m not quite saying that. But we’ll need to walk on fucking eggshells, understand? One slip up, and everything will go to hell. Again. Altering the future means thousands of tiny adjustments, it means operating with the _highest_ precision.”

In the background, Klaus dropped an ornate purple vase he had been examining. He shrieked as glass went everywhere. “Sorry,” he said. “Sweaty palms.” Five groaned and flopped backwards onto the bed.

“You know… Ben started, smiling to himself. “I kind of like this idea. It’s like, ‘Operation make our childhood better.’”

“Make _Vanya’s_ childhood better,” Five corrected.

“Well, why can’t we help everyone out on the way?” Ben asked. Five frowned, but everyone else was grinning.

“Yeah,” Allison said. “I’m definitely going to tell Little Me not to trust Little Klaus with my leather jacket.”

Klaus gasped. “But then you’re depriving Little Klaus from such a fond memory!”

“That was my _favorite_ jacket! How did you manage to _set in on fire_ in forty-five minutes!?”

“... Talent?”

Ben stood in the corner, smiling to himself. Vanya had a feeling she knew what he was thinking. Maybe the younger version of himself didn’t have to go what he had. But Five noticed, too. “I know what you’re thinking, Ben,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s impossible.”

“What are you talking about?” Ben said, a shadowing passing over his face. He stopped smiling.

“Some changes are too big,” Five said. “We’ll disrupt the timeline.”

“Are you saying Ben has to die all over again?” Klaus asked, sounding uncharacteristically angry. “While all of us are living our best lives, he has to get torn apart from the inside?”

“You think I don’t understand?” Five asked. “There’s a reason I told myself the future’s all fine and dandy.”

“You… You lied?” Vanya asked.

“Don’t you think I’d _love_ to erase the forty-five years I spent in the apocalypse!?” he shouted. “Of course I would! Of course I’d love to stop him from dealing with all the suffering I had to. But I _can’t._ If I had never gone to the future, I never would have come back to warn you all. Basically, we’d all be dead. So, yeah. Sorry, Ben, but some things can’t be changed.”

“Five… Maybe there’s something we can do. Something we can change?” Allison said. “There has to be another way.”

“It’s not worth the risk,” Five said, sounding exhausted. “The priority is the world. Not me, not you guys. I’m gonna step outside,” he said, bending down to lift up the storage unit’s garage-style door. After a few minutes of struggling with his scrawny, preteen arms he scowled, waved away the offers to help, and jumped outside.

“Well… That was… Rough,” Diego said. “We’re all required to make sacrifices,” Luther shrugged.

“And what sacrifices are you making?” Klaus muttered. Vanya wondered how the atmosphere had gone from cheerful as can be to downright depressing. That was their family, she supposed. They could only pretend to be functional for so long before everything fell apart again. She sighed, then paused. There was a scuffling noise coming from outside. Was Five trying to get in again? It didn’t sound like it. Everyone else fell silent; they had noticed it too. Suddenly, the door flew open, creaking as the door was pulled upwards. Vanya gasped, along with everyone else. A man in a blue suit had Five in a stranglehold, a gun to his head. She recognized him as one of the people who had invaded the Academy not too long ago. At first, Vanya wasn’t too worried. Five could handle himself. But then she remembered how tired he’d been lately. Not only that, he just _had_ to jump outside instead of letting someone help him. She wondered if he was entirely drained. Her brother’s eyes were wild, darting all over the room. She couldn’t tell if that was Five coming up with a plan, or Five panicking. Not that she’d ever seen Five panic.

“ _You,”_ Diego said, practically snarling.

“Alright,” Allison said, her voice soothing and reasonable. “I heard a-”

“Not a word out of you,” the man said, “Or I’ll shoot. I don’t want to, but I’ll do it.” Allison closed her mouth and stepped backward, looking pale.

“What do you want?” Luther said, going into leader mode.

“I want to talk,” he said. “That’s it. So let’s all calm down and-” Before he could finish his sentence, Five was moving. He flipped the larger man over his shoulder in one fluid motion. The gun fell and skidded across the floor. The intruder jumped to his feet with surprising agility, and rushed at Five. He ducked between his legs and planted an elbow in his side. Before his opponent could recover, Five took him under the arm and flung him over his back onto the ground. Sputtering, the man went down. Diego, who had picked up the gun, came forward and pointed it at the man on the floor.

“Sorry,” Five said, groaning as he massaged the back of his neck. Now he was pale all over again, breathing hard. “But I never negotiate with a gun to my head. Now, what were you saying?”

“I want to help you,” he sputtered. “I want to help- w-with the apocalypse.”

“And why should we believe you?” Diego asked. “How many times did you and your psycho partner try to kill us?” Vanya's eyes widened. Who  _was_ this man? How did everyone know who he was? It stung, being left out of the loop. It brought her back to her youth, which was never a good experience.

 “Listen, I’m the only reason the Commission hasn’t come for you yet. I’ve been interfering with their surveillance. They don’t know you’re here, but as soon as they find out, the Handler will come for you. I’ve been hearing them talk. They won’t waste their time on simple assassins anymore, they want you dead. And after she's killed you, all your siblings will be next in line.” “Tell me something I don’t know,” Five said. But if Vanya knew her brother, he was hiding concern behind his usual mask of confidence. “Let’s get to the point, Hazel. What are offering, what do you want?”

“I want is for you to stop the world from ending,” he said. “I can help. I’ll hide you from the Commission for as long as I can. Although…”

“What?” Five asked, narrowing his eyes.

“My partner, Cha-Cha. She died when everything went to pieces, back in 2019. I want your help getting her back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think?? Please comment and tell me! The next chapter will have older/younger Hargreeves interacting, I swear.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, how was it? Please tell me! Improvement is everything! Comment if you liked it, where you think the story will go, any suggestions or critiques you have. Thanks so much for reading!


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